Bay Area News

Cell antenna plan at Palo Alto ball field draws opposition

By Jason Green

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
03/28/2014 12:38:42 AM PDT

Updated:
03/28/2014 03:26:38 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

This photo illustration shows the existing Middlefield ball park and, beneath it, the same field with an extended light pole topped with Verizon wireless antennas, as well as a proposed equipment shelter.

A group of Palo Alto residents is crying foul over an agreement that would see Verizon Wireless install a cell antenna on a light pole at a baseball field owned by the Palo Alto Little League.

In development since 2010, the agreement calls for a 60-foot light pole at Middlefield Ball Park to be replaced with one that is 6 inches wider and capped with a 5-foot antenna. The pole needs to be at least 24 inches wide to accommodate cables running to and from the antenna, which would be 36 inches wide.

Verizon would initially pay the league $2,000 per month for use of the site. The amount would increase by 3 percent every year after. The lease could ultimately be extended up to 25 years.

Officials with the nonprofit Palo Alto Little League said the money would be used to offset increases in registration fees that are already among the highest on the Peninsula, as well as to fund capital improvement and maintenance projects.

"I'd really like to keep those fees where they are and let some of the other leagues catch up," league president Kristin Foss said at a community meeting Thursday at Fairmeadow Elementary.

The city has yet to sign off on the project.

Several residents who attended the meeting said the cell antenna wasn't a good fit for the 62-year-old baseball field.

"For us to take this historic property, which is registered as such, and put a 65-foot cell tower on it, is a little bit of a travesty," said Jason Yotopoulos, an outspoken opponent of the plan.

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Outside the nearly two-hour meeting, Yotopoulos said he was also worried that an antenna would open the door for high-density development in the neighborhood if the league ever decides to sell the baseball field.

Foss said that's an unlikely scenario.

"The future of this property, in my mind, is to support youth baseball for as long as there are kids in Palo Alto who want to play baseball," she said. "We're not considering any other big changes."

Charlene Liao, who lives across the street from the baseball field, said the proposed pole and antenna were "ugly." She also raised concerns about the structure catching fire or falling over in an earthquake.

Chris Durand of NSA Wireless Inc., a consultant for Verizon, said there was little danger to the public.

"We don't build these things so that they fall over," said Durand, adding that the antenna and pole would comply with the latest state building codes.

If anything, the structure would enhance safety, said Ken Allen, president of the Adobe Neighborhood Association.

"We need the cell towers," he said after the meeting. "We need the capacity. With more and more people eliminating their landlines and relying on wireless communication, it becomes an essential part of the community infrastructure."

With the antenna, Verizon's coverage would dramatically improve in an area bounded by Oregon Expressway, Highway 101, San Antonio Road and El Camino Real, according to maps distributed at the meeting.

Residents including Barb Cooley wanted to know why the league wasn't looking at other sources of funding to keep costs lower.

"In a town like Palo Alto, which is certainly not poor, I have trouble believing they couldn't do some kind of another fundraiser or gifts from donors like they've gotten in the past," she said.

Foss acknowledged that the league has been the recipient of hefty donations but said it couldn't count on them.

"In order to preserve the facility to be a resource for the community," she said, "we feel like this is a good plan."